Cardin used his palazzo in Venice, which he bought in 1981, as a retreat and a place to refuel his imagination, said his nephew, Rodrigo Basilicati-Cardin, chief executive of the label, whose creative atelier remains in Paris.
“I thought, ‘This was his home, what better place?’ There is an almost 1,000-square-metre space, with important ceiling heights; what better setting to display at least a hundred outfits?” he said during a tour of the exhibition space.
Today, Cardin is largely remembered for the pioneering business strategy of licensing his name around the world to thousands of products, from bedsheets to answering machines — one that made him rich, but took some of the lustre off his once-coveted brand name.
Today, the company has about 130 products licensed.
The museum seeks to remind viewers of the innovative design sensibility of the couturier, who worked under Elsa Schiaparelli and Christian Dior in Paris before launching his own line in 1950.
Cardin sought to democratise fashion through the launch of a ready-to-wear line in 1959 — a shocking concept at the time that got him temporarily kicked out of the French haute couture governing body — but which was quickly copied by rivals.